Multicast

Given the need to support multicast applications, the Internet2 Multicast Working Group is compiling a "cookbook" that will aid those deploying such applications. The intent of this cookbook is to catalog the experiences of those who have successfully deployed multicast across their networks, including both the tools used and the configuration parameters for network equipment.

Bob Riddle is a technologist on assignment to the Internet2 Applications Group. He has most recently been evaluating, exploring, & demonstrating high-quality, interactive, video services deployed across Internet2 contributing to the Access Grid, RtpTV, H.323 communities. Prior to joining Internet2, Bob worked at the Center for Information Technology Integration (CITI) for the Information Technology Division at the University of Michigan in a variety of roles ranging from developer to Assistant Director.

Multicast is a wonderful approach to delivering content over IP networks, but it suffers from bad press and a few noteable problems. Even so, many applications make good use of it, from a local network to the global Internet. To deliver multicast where it is not yet natively available, several groups have developed multicast/unicast bridges or tunnels. Yet they all suffer from scaling and management issues. This talk will cover our project called rcbridge, which solves these issues and also offers a way to finely manage the bandwidth required. The ANU receives around 40 channels of live TV from various satellite and terrestrial services. Currently these are delivered to dedicated facilities in only a few locations, over a dedicated coax network. We are now in the design phase of moving this to an IP-based service, to support a range of bandwidths/qualities, on-campus and off-campus, live and archived, to devices ranging from mobile phones and PDAs up to HDTV display systems.

Northwestern University has been multicasting 20+ channels of live television content via our NUTV service since September 2002. This presentation will focus on issues that were encountered during deployment of the service, enhancements that have been made since the initial rollout, and planned upgrades. Topics will include IP multicast troubleshooting, video quality tradeoffs, MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 transitions, video on demand, student-generated content projects, set top boxes, and premium content.

Julian Y. Koh has been a network engineer at Northwestern for 8 years, concentrating in the areas of security, IP multicast video streaming, remote access, VPN, and wireless networking.